SACVFD 51st Annual Spaghetti Dinner... Commerce City, CO

Thursday, December 16, 2010

In October, a bulldozer operator at Ziegler Reservoir unearthed the remains of a juvenile female mammoth. What happened next has become one of the most significant scientific discoveries in Colorado history. Now we need your help giving the discovery mammoth a name!
Your Choices are the following...CLICK HERE TO VOTE...
* Jessie is for bulldozer operator Jesse Steele, who uncovered the first bones while working in Ziegler Reservoir on October 14.
* Ella is for the three-year-old daughter of construction superintendant, Kent Olson, who took the bones home to try to identify them and realized they'd discovered something big.
* Ziggy is for the Ziegler family, who owned the land where the reservoir was built and the Ice Age site was discovered.
* Samammoth is for Museum educator Samantha Sands, who presented mammoth programs to 8,500 schoolchildren in five days in the Roaring Fork Valley.
* Snowy is for Snowmass Village, home of the Ice Age site.

Dr. Ian Miller, curator of paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, received a call in mid-October that a bulldozer operator near Snowmass Village had uncovered something very interesting. When Miller arrived onsite a few days later, he encountered what has become one of the most significant scientific discoveries in Colorado history.

The find is an exceptionally preserved Ice Age fossil ecosystem. So far, it has produced the remains of as many as 10 mastodons and four Columbian mammoths, as well as a giant ground sloth, four gigantic bison, Ice Age deer, iridescent insects, snails, and plant matter that is still green after tens of thousands of years.

Now, the Museum will focus on preserving the bones from this Ice Age treasure trove, and assembling a top team of scientific experts who will learn everything they can about this amazing discovery.